grug on personal finance

grug want share thinks on coin pile and grug brain

grug on keeping coin

grug want share thinks on coin pile. but first grug must say: many smart grug already write good advice on coin pile:

spend less than earn. buy index fund. wait long time. kill credit card monster. fill special tax caves in right order

this advice good. grug not argue with this advice

so why grug write?

because grug do all this advice and grug still mess up. grug spend nine winters in stone tower predicting the future with numbers and math and grug still mess up

grug know the math. math not hard part. math solved long ago by smarter grugs

hard part is grug brain

grug brain see coin pile go down and want sell

grug brain see friend hunt mammoth and feel poor eating moose rib

grug brain promise future grug will save more, then future grug arrive and want bbq mouse now

grug brain get used to wagyu and forget wagyu special. grug brain do this every winter

so this not personal finance guide. this: grug notes on grug brain. read real guide first. then come back for the part real guide cannot help with. and grug has tactical close at end if real guides too boring

grug on simple math

famous saying: coin pile grow = coin come in (after tribute) minus coin go out

grug stare at this many winters. still true. still simple

if this all grug had to do, grug would be done writing. spend less than earn. put rest in index fund. wait. eat bbq mouse in old age. piece over

but grug not done writing because grug not a spreadsheet. grug a grug. and grug brain make simple math hard

rest of piece is about that

grug on the sad loop

less spend should grow coin pile. grug know this. grug also know:

• less spend make grug sad

• sad grug spend to feel less sad

• now coin pile smaller and grug still sad

this is sad loop

grug been in sad loop. grug not pretend otherwise. most personal finance advice pretend sad loop not exist. grug think this why most personal finance advice not work for most grug

grug not have full answer. grug have partial answer

partial answer one: most sad-spend not really fix sad. grug buy shiny rock when sad. grug feel good for one moon. then grug just grug with shiny rock and same sad. grug try to notice this. sometimes noticing enough

partial answer two: can fix sad with small or no coin not large coin. walk in jungle. sleep. friend. grug not say this because grug cheap. grug say this because grug tried both and cheap things win more than grug expected

partial answer three: some sad-spend grug just accept. grug is grug. grug not robot. small coin spent on small sad better than big coin spent on big sad later. grug not optimize every coin. grug try to optimize the big coins

the goal not zero sad-spend. goal is sad-spend not eat the whole pile

grug on lifestyle inflation

each winter grug earn more. but each winter grug also spend more. one winter grug want bbq mouse. next winter moose ribs. final winter wagyu steak

then grug coin pile small and grug now unhappy with delicious moose ribs because grug expect wagyu steak

this is bad. very bad. and sneaky bad because each step feel earned. grug worked hard. grug deserve wagyu. maybe true. but here is problem:

after few moons of wagyu, wagyu stop feeling like wagyu.

wagyu just become dinner. then grug need new thing to feel special. and now grug spend wagyu money every moon for normal feeling

grug workaround: grug still eat bbq mouse sometimes. on purpose. not because grug have to. because if grug never eat bbq mouse, wagyu stop being special. and if wagyu stop being special, what was the point of wagyu

grug not say live like monk. grug say keep some old habits when coin pile grow. they the things that make new habits feel new

grug on envy

grug confess something: grug coin pile fine. grug eat well. grug warm in winter. grug should feel rich

but grug live near friend and see friend hunted mammoth and now friend has big cave with hot spring. and now grug feel poor. grug eating moose rib in nice hut but grug feel poor

this is envy. grug not proud. grug have it anyway

grug pile only feel small when grug look at other bigger pile

grug have small workaround: the fun pile

fun pile is small coin pile, no more than 5 coin per 100 of whole pile. fun pile for silly think. magic bean. extra heavy rock. friend startup making smart-cave warmers

fun pile coin grug ready to lose entirely. if fun pile go to zero, grug sad but main pile still warm

why have fun pile? because if grug have zero shot at mammoth, envy eat grug from inside and grug do something dumb with main pile. fun pile is grug giving grug brain a small toy so grug brain stop trying to grab the big toy

grug warning: many grug should not have fun pile. boring all-index-fund path is better. grug only have fun pile because old stone tower friends sometimes show grug deals most grug never see. and most fun pile coins go to zero. fun pile is fun pile, not retirement pile

grug on not looking

grug brain weird about losses. lose 100 coin hurt twice as much as find 100 coin feel good. grug not make this up. smart grugs measure this. brain not fair

so when market go down 20 coin per 100, grug brain scream. grug brain say sell sell sell. grug brain say this time different. grug brain say grug see this coming, get out now, get back in when safe

grug brain wrong. grug brain wrong every time. but grug brain very convincing in the moment

grug workaround: not look

grug set up automatic buying each moon. coin go from stone tower pay to index fund pile without grug touching. grug not check pile in bad winter. grug close eyes. dream of bbq mouse

grug notice something. grugs who check pile every day make less coin than grugs who lose cave key. checking feel like control. checking is opposite of control. checking is grug brain looking for excuse to do dumb thing

grug on the boring cave

grug keep small coin pile in cave. boring cave. cave just sit there. cave not grow much

other grugs call this “emergency fund”. grug think boring cave is what let grug not panic

when bison gore grug, grug have coin and grug not sell index fund pile in bad winter to pay healer

when stone tower send grug away, grug have coin and grug not take first bad job farming moose grug see

when mammoth step on grug hut, grug have coin and grug not borrow from credit card monster

boring cave buy grug room to act like long-term grug instead of scared grug. that worth more than the small coin grug lose by keeping coin boring

six moons of spending is fine number. some grug like more, some less. grug not fight about exact number. point is the cave exist and the cave boring on purpose

grug on future grug

this most important section. grug save it for last on purpose

grug brain weird about time. 100 coin today feel real. 200 coin in 20 winters feel like story about a stranger. so grug brain happy to give today coin to today grug, sad to give today coin to future grug

but future grug is real. future grug is grug. future grug will eat, sleep, feel cold, want bbq mouse, same as now grug. future grug just hasn’t happened yet

why grug not save more? because future grug feel like stranger

why grug raid retirement cave? because today grug real and future grug fake

why grug say “next winter grug start”? because next winter grug also fake

grug workaround: grug try to picture future grug as actual grug. old grug with grey beard, sitting by fire, wanting to eat moose ribs and not work. that grug is grug. grug owe that grug coin

second workaround, more important: grug automate. grug not trust today grug to choose future grug each moon. so grug make the choice once, long ago, and let it run. coin leaves stone tower pay before today grug see it. today grug cannot spend coin today grug never saw

grug notice something nice. past grug already did this for now grug. now grug grateful to past grug. now grug try to be past grug for future grug. it a chain. grug just one link

grug on what grug actually do

ok grug promised tactical close. here it is, short and boring:

free coin from boss match in 401K. always. even if debt monster. even if no boring cave yet. free coin is best coin

kill fast debt monster. anything eating more than 7 coin per 100 each winter. credit card, payday loan. kill before invest

fill boring cave. six moons

automate buying of boring index fund. grug like Vanguard S&P500 (a tiny slice of every cave-business). not touch. not look

fill tax caves in rough order: HSA, Roth IRA, rest of 401K, taxable brokerage. exact order debated by smarter grugs

small fun pile if grug must, no more than 5 coin per 100 of whole pile

slow debt monsters (eg home cave “mortgage”) pay normal, not extra

but grug still recommend reading real guides

grug closing

many winters ago young grug took job as math shaman in big stone tower. boss say “young grug, make numbers predict future.” for nine winters young grug did

one day grug leave stone tower. beard more grey. grug leave code behind. grug see sunlight

grug thought grug knew about coin. grug knew the math. but grug did not know grug. that the part nobody in stone tower teach

walk in jungle still free. friend still free. good sleep still free. grug try to remember

hunt mammoth. watch out for bison. keep coin pile warm